Galaxy Tab 7.7 questions

[Casey Cheung]

I am a Verizon customer. I'm considering getting this Samsung 7.7" tablet. For those who have this, are you concerned about 16gb of storage being insufficient for long term needs? I ask this question because I have the Verizon Samsung Note 2 phone, and with its 16gb storage, I'm already down to 3.5gb of free internal space left.

I've read many conflicting reviews on battery life, some say as low as 7 or 8 hours, others as high as nearly 14 hours. What is your experience regarding battery life?

Are you able to use the Viber app for this tablet in making international phone calls for free? I can user Viber on my phone, but I've read somewhere that it may not be compatible for tablet use.

I'm not so concerned about the whole Android update thing, just as long as the operating system is reliable. Or should I be?

What are must get accessories for this tablet (eg: covers, chargers, etc) ?

By the way, I was also considering the Nexus 7 tablet, but because I already have the Samsung Note 2 phone with its huge 5.5" screen, the Nexus 7 screen is only a little larger than my phone screen! That's why I'm considering the larger 7.7" tablet screen. I'm not interested in the 10" screen tablet, at least not at this time.

Thanks!
Casey

 

[thoots]

Casey,

I can speak about a few things:

1. Storage? Get a 32GB microSD card for about 25 bucks. It'll work perfectly. If you want to spend more, you can get a 64GB microSD card, but you'll have to format it in your computer as FAT32, but then it'll work just fine. So, "no worries about storage at all."

2. Battery life? I don't use mine heavily all day long, but I've been happy with what I've gotten. Relative to other tablets, it tends to have a larger battery, and I believe that the Super AMOLED Plus screen uses less power than a lot of other screen technologies.

3. Can't help you with that Viber question -- I've never used it.

4. I got a new Verizon GT77 about a week ago, and it had 4.0.4 ICS. I'm very happy with that, it's what I've got on two other devices, and it's quite mature. Look into 7-inch tablet forums, and you'll find plenty of whining about upgrades to JB -- I'd be glad to stay at ICS.

5. Any "Samsung Galaxy Tab" accessories should work with the GT77 -- unless they're designed to form-fit some particular device. Chargers, cables, and such should work just fine.

6. Cases are a bit difficult to find, unless you can live with those AWFUL things that cover the tablet's bezel. I utterly HATE those things, but there are millions of them on eBay. The Samsung Book Cover case fits backward -- the cover is hinged on the right, rather than on the left, like every book you've ever read. One thing about the GT77 is that it is just fractionally smaller than the iPad mini -- some iPad mini cases will fit good enough. Avoid things that form-fit the iPad mini, but anything that grabs the corners in some manner might work, like the Belkin quilted iPad mini cover.

7. I tried the Nexus 7. Hated it. Search for "Nexus 7 wifi authentication" and think about what would happen if you tried your luck. "Plain old Android" is like a stripped-down car with no carpets, no radio, no air conditioning, and roll-up windows -- I truly LIKE what Samsung does to their devices. If you like your Note 2, you'll probably be very happy with how the GT77 works. The GT77 screen is MUCH better, and the extra size REALLY DOES make a difference for the better -- it's a real "sweet spot" for a tablet if you're going to be carrying it around with you all the time.

I started with the BlackBerry PlayBook, sold it and got the Galaxy Note 10.1, which is nice, but, as you say, "big," tried the Nexus 7 and returned it, tried the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and returned it, and finally got the Verizon Galaxy Tab 7.7. I'm very happy to finally have a tablet with a data plan, and I'm just very happy with the GT77 in every way. I recommend it highly.

 

[Casey Cheung]

Casey,

I can speak about a few things:

1. Storage? Get a 32GB microSD card for about 25 bucks. It'll work perfectly. If you want to spend more, you can get a 64GB microSD card, but you'll have to format it in your computer as FAT32, but then it'll work just fine. So, "no worries about storage at all."

2. Battery life? I don't use mine heavily all day long, but I've been happy with what I've gotten. Relative to other tablets, it tends to have a larger battery, and I believe that the Super AMOLED Plus screen uses less power than a lot of other screen technologies.

3. Can't help you with that Viber question -- I've never used it.

4. I got a new Verizon GT77 about a week ago, and it had 4.0.4 ICS. I'm very happy with that, it's what I've got on two other devices, and it's quite mature. Look into 7-inch tablet forums, and you'll find plenty of whining about upgrades to JB -- I'd be glad to stay at ICS.

5. Any "Samsung Galaxy Tab" accessories should work with the GT77 -- unless they're designed to form-fit some particular device. Chargers, cables, and such should work just fine.

6. Cases are a bit difficult to find, unless you can live with those AWFUL things that cover the tablet's bezel. I utterly HATE those things, but there are millions of them on eBay. The Samsung Book Cover case fits backward -- the cover is hinged on the right, rather than on the left, like every book you've ever read. One thing about the GT77 is that it is just fractionally smaller than the iPad mini -- some iPad mini cases will fit good enough. Avoid things that form-fit the iPad mini, but anything that grabs the corners in some manner might work, like the Belkin quilted iPad mini cover.

7. I tried the Nexus 7. Hated it. Search for "Nexus 7 wifi authentication" and think about what would happen if you tried your luck. "Plain old Android" is like a stripped-down car with no carpets, no radio, no air conditioning, and roll-up windows -- I truly LIKE what Samsung does to their devices. If you like your Note 2, you'll probably be very happy with how the GT77 works. The GT77 screen is MUCH better, and the extra size REALLY DOES make a difference for the better -- it's a real "sweet spot" for a tablet if you're going to be carrying it around with you all the time.

I started with the BlackBerry PlayBook, sold it and got the Galaxy Note 10.1, which is nice, but, as you say, "big," tried the Nexus 7 and returned it, tried the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and returned it, and finally got the Verizon Galaxy Tab 7.7. I'm very happy to finally have a tablet with a data plan, and I'm just very happy with the GT77 in every way. I recommend it highly.

Hi Thoots,

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated! I did it! I bought the Samsung Tab 7.7 at a local Verizon store. I've been playing around with most of the weekend now, and I really like it so far!

The accessories I got for it are the car charger, extra AC/USB cord charger, a black rubber/silicon form fitting case (similar as for phones), screen protector. I was slightly tempted to get the keyboard, but for an extra $79.99, I passed on it.

I haven't tried to run down the tablet yet to test battery life. I just found it odd that various reviewers online had varying results, which confused me. I'm pretty confident that battery life will be good regardless.

I chose not to activate the 4g wireless plan. At this point, I'm simply using the tablet with my home wifi. When I'm outside, I will be using the PdaNet/FoxFi wireless tether app through my Verizon Samsung Note 2 smartphone, which works great! I also have grandfathered unlimited 4g internet data through Verizon, so I don't have to worry about data usage.

By the way, the Viber app **does** work with this tablet! It's so cool, because Viber does not work with other tablets such as the Nexus 7. I believe the reason Viber works on my Samsung 7.7 tablet is because of the dedicated 4g sim card inside the tablet that has my cell phone number attached to it. As a result, I was able to use the Viber app on my Samsung 7.7 tablet to make free phone calls to other friends who also have Viber downloaded to their devices. What's cool about Viber app (free through Google Play store) is that you can make unlimited free phone calls internationally and locally. Viber does in fact work on my Samsung Note 2 phone in making calls internationally, and it's just cool that Viber can also do the same with my tablet. Only drawback is that I cannot simultaneously have Viber app activated both on my smartphone and tablet. If I have Viber activated on my phone, it will de-activate the same app on the tablet, and vice-versa. I also tried Skype videoconferencing, and that too worked well with the tablet, but I will need more testing on that since I don't normally do video conferencing.

My tablet came with Android version 4.0.4. Is that good? Is there any new update for this tablet?

I also installed Flash, which a member gave a link for downloading. If you want to download Flash to your tablet (or smartphone), see this link here and check out post #5.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-note-2/230465-adobe-flash-player.html#post2383198
How do you know if your tablet can play Flash video or not? My test is to go to this p@rn site to see if you can click on one of the thumbnails to play a video or not: www. all porn .com (delete the spaces in between). If you click on a thumbnail picture, and only get a picture, but no video plays, that means you would need Flash installed to play the video. Hence, installing Flash from the link above will allow you to play videos from the aforementioned p@rn site. Works well for me! I already did exactly the same thing for my Samsung Note 2 smartphone in downloading the Flash app. As an additional note, the Chrome browser will NOT play Flash video, even though you have Flash installed. I learned this the hard way. You will need to download other browser apps such as Firefox, Skyfire, Opera, Dolphin. These other browsers will play Flash videos, as long as you have installed Flash to your tablet and/or smartphone first. Chrome browser sucks for tablets and smartphones! It's a shame because I use Chrome browser for my Windows laptops, which works well.

As for Google Navigation GPS app, I was hoping this tablet can be used for GPS navigation even with-out having cellular connection. But unfortunately, it appears that the tablet must have internet connection for the Navigation app to work. Too bad.

By the way, the reason I'm concerned about the limited 16GB of internal memory is because this limits the number of apps I can install to internal memory. I already know about getting a large micro SD memory card, but that's only for files such as music and pictures. As far as I know, it's not possible to transfer apps from internal memory to the memory card, or am I wrong? I know I currently have that limitation problem with my Samsung Note 2 smartphone, which also has 16GB of internal storage. Because I installed so many apps, including some large high-def racing games, my Note 2 phone is now down to 3.5GB left of internal storage, even though I have a huge 64GB Sandisk Ultra micro SD card in my phone. There are users on the Note 2 form of this site that are rooting their Note 2 phones so that the custom ROM fools the phone into thinking that that the external memory card is part of the internal memory. As reported from users, due to the current Android version on the Note 2 phone, it's not possible to transfer apps from the internal memory to the micro SD card (unless you root your phone, which I'm not willing to do, at least not currently). Worse, every time I update apps on my Note 2 phone, it keeps reducing the amount of what limited internal storage space I have left. I'm at a point now where I'm almost hesitant to download any more new app updates! So at some point in time, I know that I will run out of internal memory on my tablet, because I'm already getting close to this same problem with my phone.

By the way, have you tried the "TV Portal" app yet? It's a great app for watching many free TV and movie shows! You will also need to download the free "MX Player" video app to watch the shows through. Although the TV Portal app is free, I ended up paying the $1.99 upgrade fee so that the app will work for unlimited usage. I already have Netflix, but TV Portal is another source of cool shows that Netflix doesn't have.

Let me know what other tricks or advise you might have for customizing my new tablet toy!

Thanks! Casey

 

[DroidXcon]

I think I'm going to get this tab. I have one at work and having been sneaking it out of our show room at night and using it instead of my CM7 nook color, its smoother, faster and movies look great on it

From my Galaxy Note 2 via Tapatalk

 

[thoots]

Casey,

2 quick replies for now:

1. Android 4.0.4 is the most recent version of Ice Cream Sandwich -- that's exactly what I want, I'm very happy with it.

2. I added a 64GB card to my GT77 -- I just love the extra memory. I've been under the impression that you CAN move things from internal memory to the card -- obviously, try any of the apps that say they can do that, and take advantage of any programs that have an option to move any or all of the program and its data to the card. Note 2 is Jelly Bean, correct? That would be another reason why I prefer ICS -- JB just makes nonsensical changes that limit what you can do. How is that "progress??"

Good luck with your new toy!

 

[Casey Cheung]

I think I'm going to get this tab. I have one at work and having been sneaking it out of our show room at night and using it instead of my CM7 nook color, its smoother, faster and movies look great on it

From my Galaxy Note 2 via Tapatalk

Hi DroidXCon,

I think you will like the Samsung 7.7 tablet. Don't you also have a Note 2 phone? I have a Verizon Note 2 phone, and that's partly the reason why I didn't get the Nexus 7 tablet. When I placed my Note 2 phone on top of the Nexus 7 tablet, the Nexus 7 tablet screen was only a little bit larger than than my Note 2 screen! What's the point of getting a tablet that has a screen only a little bit larger than my phone screen? However, I felt that the Samsung 7.7 tablet screen was sufficiently larger than my Note 2 phone screen, and this influenced my purchase decision. Obviously, if I had a smaller phone such as my previous Motorola Razr Maxx phone with its 4.3" screen, then a 7" screen on the Nexus 7 tablet would seem noticeably larger in comparison.

 

[Casey Cheung]

Casey,

2 quick replies for now:

1. Android 4.0.4 is the most recent version of Ice Cream Sandwich -- that's exactly what I want, I'm very happy with it.

2. I added a 64GB card to my GT77 -- I just love the extra memory. I've been under the impression that you CAN move things from internal memory to the card -- obviously, try any of the apps that say they can do that, and take advantage of any programs that have an option to move any or all of the program and its data to the card. Note 2 is Jelly Bean, correct? That would be another reason why I prefer ICS -- JB just makes nonsensical changes that limit what you can do. How is that "progress??"

Good luck with your new toy!

Assuming the tablet can move an app from internal to card, how can this be done? I just went into Settings but don't see any way to do this. I'm thinking maybe I need to download an app for this purpose, but I don't feel like tinkering with my tablet unless I know for sure it's possible because I'm afraid I might mess up something. Have you tried moving an app to the external memory card on your tablet?

Thanks, Casey

 

[Casey Cheung]

So just for the heck of it, I went to the Samsung website to do an online tech help chat just now. I asked the question if it's possible to move an app from internal memory to the micro-SD card. Below is the entire chat conversation. Bottom line, that rep was useless. Sigh.

Samsung

Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.
You are now chatting with 'Kiera'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK56402521163X
Kiera: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. How may I help you today?
Visitor: Hi, my name is casey. i have a question on the samsung tab 7.7 tablet from verizon, please.
Kiera: Please go ahead with your issue.
Visitor: i just purchased a new samsung 7.7 tab through verizon, which has 16gb of storage and running android 4.0.4.
Kiera: Okay.
Visitor: i also have a micro sd card inserted into the unit. my question is whether it's possible to make apps (eg: a game, etc) from internal memory to the sd card ?
Visitor: i meant to say move/transfer an app from internal to sd card.
Visitor: such as a game for example.
Kiera: I understand that you want to know if you can transfer apps from internal memory to SD card. Is that correct?
Visitor: yes correct.
Visitor: i realize some apps can only run from internal memory, but something such as a game i'm hoping to move to memory card.
Kiera: I will provide you with the information.
Kiera: May I know the model number of the tab?
Visitor: model number sch-1815. build number imm76d. lp1
Kiera: Thank you for the model number.
Kiera: I would like to inform you that you can transfer data from internal memory to Sd card.
Visitor: i have some very large high def games such as Asphalt 6 and 7 that are racing games that are over 1GB each. I want to transfer these games to the micro sd card, and out of internal memory.
Visitor: how?
Kiera: I would like to inform you that there may be compatibility issue with these type of large games applications.
Kiera: However; we will try transfering.
Kiera: Please follow the below mentioned steps and check if the application moves?
Visitor: ok
Kiera: Tap on applications>>settings>>applications>>manage applications.
Kiera: Tap on downloaded.
Visitor: i'm there
Kiera: You will see the list of games you have downloaded.
Visitor: right
Kiera: Pleased tap and hold on the game you want to transfer. Let me know if you have the option move to SD card.
Visitor: no don't see it. when i tap and hold and let go, another window opens with choices such as Force Stop, Uninstall, Clear data, Clear cache, Launch by default. and some info on Permissions below.
Kiera: I am sorry to inform you that you have tapped on that game. Please tap and hold on the game icon.
Kiera: let me know if you get the option "Move to SD card".
Kiera: Not to rush you, are we still connected on the chat?
Visitor: no don't see that. when i'm on say home screen where the game icon is located, and tap and hold, i see the following choices above the screen: Create Folder, Create Page, App Info, Delete. that's all.
Kiera: Please go to manage applications>>downloaded. Tap and hold on the game you want to transfer to SD card. Let me know the options.
Visitor: ok
Kiera: Thank you.
Visitor: you mean settings, applications, then downloaded?
Kiera: Yes.
Visitor: if so, then it's the same info i previously gave you such as force stop, uninstall, clear data, etc. nothing for moving app to sd card.
Kiera: Let me know if there is a option "Move to SD card".
Visitor: no there is not
Kiera: I am sorry to inform you that you cannot transfer that game application to SD card.
Visitor: i was pretty much expecting that, since i already knew how to do all those steps you mentioned,, but was hoping you might know something new. thanks though.
Kiera: If there would be an option to move, you can move that app.
Kiera: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
Visitor: no, thank you!
Kiera: It was a pleasure assisting you. Thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. If you have a minute, please click on the blue ?X close? button to receive a transcript of your chat and fill out a brief survey to help us serve you better. Have a wonderful day!
Chat session has been terminated by the Samsung Agent.

 

[thoots]

Casey,

Bottom line, "some" programs have an option to move all or part of the program and/or its data files to the SD card, but most probably don't have such an option. But, if they have one, the screen you were in is one place they might have an option. Some might have an option in their "options" menus.

Also, there are a whole bunch of apps in the Google Play store that can move some programs to the SD card -- just search for "move to SD."

Also, never hesitate to do google searches for the game's name plus "move to SD," and you should find plenty of discussion about whether it can be done or not.

Good luck!

 

[Bangkok Hound]

Android hasn't supported moving apps to sd cards since Gingerbread (2.3.)